I'd like to build a new Workstation based on Intels 'Gulftown' for some numerical modelling purposes. Since I realised that on our Dell Poweredge Server with built-in Fusion MPT RAID/JBOD controller even attached SATA 3 GB hard disks seem to be 'faster' than on most Intel ICH9/ICH10 machines we also utilise with FreeBSD 8/amd64, I'd like to have a replacement SAS 2.0 controller like the LSI MegaRAID SAS 9211-8. I do not know much about this controller. I don't want to wait for native SATA 6Gb on Intel chipsets since this is announce for next year and I feel better being 'back to the roots' with SCSI/SAS 2 on FreeBSD. Are there any contraints on this above mentioned LSI SAS 2.0 controller execpt lacking RAID 5/6 level (it should be an replacement for the ICH10 so far for 7 or 8 hard disks/SSDs)? Any comment would be appreciated (please set CC to my email since I do not subscribe the questions-list). Thanks in advance, O. Hartmann